Human rights concerns in other Sister Cities and their countries

Friday, Aug. 2 — As city officials and local advocates have focused recently on Lansing’s Sister Cities relationship — or lack thereof — with St. Petersburg, Russia over human rights concerns there, it’s not the only Lansing Sister City where such problems exist.

A closer look at the maintenance of the Michigan Avenue rain gardens

Tim O’Rourke, one of the co-owners of Stober’s Bar on East Michigan Avenue, is frustrated. The city of Lansing rain garden outside his business — which he didn’t build and isn’t responsible for maintaining — has to be cared for by his employees because no one else will.

First public bike share program in Michigan set to launch Sunday in Lansing

Sunday will be a day of firsts. Lansing will be the first city in Michigan to have a public bike share program. And the launch will be the first project of A2B Bikeshare, a new Ann Arbor startup specializing in the niche market.

Area police departments scan license plates without policies for how to use the information and how long to keep it. ACLU is investigating

Several Lansing area police departments have been using car-mounted automatic license plate readers to passively collect and store data on motorists — some for as long as two years — without any policy in place to govern the retention and use of the information.

Citizen’s FOIA request for automatic license plate reader data is denied on grounds that it’s an unwarranted invasion of privacy

Wednesday, July 24 — A Lansing resident’s formal request for what he believed was public information gathered by the Lansing Police Department through automatic license plate readers has been denied. The City Attorney’s Office said the information is “personal in nature” and represents an “unwarranted invasion of the individual’s privacy.”

Property: Various rain gardens on Michigan Avenue in Lansing.
Is that a bush growing out of the sidewalk? Is that fenced-in hole just a big cigarette butt and trash depository? Nope, it's just a rain garden, designed to filter storm water through a system of dirt, sand and plant roots to help clean the water before it is discharged into the river.

City Council and administration will work together on St. Petersburg situation

Monday, July 22 — Lansing City Councilwoman Jody Washington said tonight she will collaborate with Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and the rest of the Council on a unified message against the anti-gay laws in St. Petersburg, Russia, a Sister City.

Friday, July 12 — Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and At-Large City Councilwoman Kathie Dunbar have received the highest rating in this year’s primary election races from the political action committee of Lansing’s gay rights organization.